Add me to the list of victims of this problem.

What a horror return warranty story.

I had a test flight since updating the firmware and experienced it again (once) during a 20 minute flight. The only other thing I can compare the symptoms to, are:

1. when the gimbal/camera initializing during startup, and,
2. when you toggle between ntfs and PAL settings and the camera resets.

For now, and after hearing your experience, I'll hold onto the aircraft a bit longer.

The CC dispute does seem a fair outcome.

MentalEcho Posted at 2017-4-25 04:38
Hopefully you get a better resolution than I did - posted my update before this reply.. But the long and short is that my issue still exists after repairs - am considering going through my CC company to reverse the charges since my CC company says DJI is failing to live up to our agreement (which was to send me a new working craft, not a defective one, for the $1400 that I gave them)... We shall see. Good luck!

One thing I just thought about, I'm going to try a factory reset on the drone/RC this weekend.

Perhaps give that a go? Firmware upgrade, then factory reset?

(Whoops just updated my username).

Did you contact DJI since you got it back about same issue?? What did they say? I've had the mavic since nov 1st with plenty of flights and no issues. Although I did experience an in flight gimble calibration 1 time a few months back but never lost video downlink. Haven't had it happen in 100 plus flights since.

fansb40d1cae Posted at 2017-4-27 16:35
Did you contact DJI since you got it back about same issue?? What did they say? I've had the mavic since nov 1st with plenty of flights and no issues. Although I did experience an in flight gimble calibration 1 time a few months back but never lost video downlink. Haven't had it happen in 100 plus flights since.

Ugh.. Yeah... They really don't say much aside from indicating that they want you to send it back in... So I supposed that I am going to send it back in... It just sucks because IF YOU'RE LUCKY, you're still going to be without your drone for a month (my first repair which was just a simple part swap took 1 month).

I did have a minor occurrence of it yesterday afternoon while I was livestreaming - downloading that video so that I can put it on Youtube now.  The livestream actually catches it... Since I got it on video, I do wish that this would have been a worse example of the problem, as this one only lasted a few seconds - the scary ones have been when it took 20 seconds or so, during which time there's been no feed.

fansb40d1cae Posted at 2017-4-27 16:35
Did you contact DJI since you got it back about same issue?? What did they say? I've had the mavic since nov 1st with plenty of flights and no issues. Although I did experience an in flight gimble calibration 1 time a few months back but never lost video downlink. Haven't had it happen in 100 plus flights since.

Wow! I am glad that you mentioned the 'Gimbal Calibration Mid Flight' thing... That's what my problem is - though in my describing the issue to DJI, this was never mentioned by them as a possibility (they essentially quickly moved to "send it in - faulty camera/gimbal needs replaced".

Now, while searching for this, I am seeing a TON of reports of this problem on here and Mavic Pilot's forum... So this is a common issue, it would seem - and one that DJI hasn't addressed yet...  

They really need to get out in front of this - across the various threads, you see a mix of people blaming firmware versions, faulty SD cards, and manufacturer defect requiring warranty repair...  But no one seems to know for sure and there doesn't seem to be any official acknowledgement or denial of this issue from DJI anywhere...  And furthermore, there are a lot of people who've never experienced this issue - which is odd to me, as I experience it every flight...

Is this a hardware or software issue, DJI? Is this a defect requiring repair or will it be worked out with a future firmware update?

Hi everyone. I am from Germany. Got my Mavic 4 weeks ago and i can told you I have the same problem!
It happens very randomly. But what I figured out was, that the problem occurs when I am using my third battery pack. Not sure if this is an problem with this specific battery pack.
Today its raining. Will give it another try tomorrow before contacting DJI Support.

I have the same problem. Camera is working for roughly 2 Minutes before it starts to freak out and recording is canceled. After reading this thread and DJI´s lack of information about this issue i am considering a refund. Thats a shame, i really like this little bugger.

I'm having this same exact issue and is really annoying and scary not only because it randomly stops my recording and freaks out but I'm never quite sure if I still have control so I always default to having it automatically return home and have to end my flight short.

DragonPhly Posted at 2017-5-7 16:11
I'm having this same exact issue and is really annoying and scary not only because it randomly stops my recording and freaks out but I'm never quite sure if I still have control so I always default to having it automatically return home and have to end my flight short.

Here is a video of my gimble freakjng out captured from my phone right before it stopped the recording.

Hi folks, mine is doing something very similar but only every so often. I had actually put it down to the wind being too strong as each time it happened I had gotten the wind velocity warning each time.. Is this the case with any of the times you guys had the issue? I had a complete loss of the live feed a few times to. I'd gone through the setup procedures and everything was fine, took off and got about 10 meters away and then everything went black. I landed it, restarted everything and then it worked fine. Anyone see this? Thanks, Mac

You can add me to the list of gimbal  freak outs. Today is the first day I flew mine. First battery charge the drone flew  around great and did what it was suppose to. I go out for awhile, charge the battery, then the gimbal starts freaking out. I got mine from Best Buy so tomorrow I'm taking it back and swapping it out for another. I really love this thing, but it's gotta work!

mcquaim Posted at 2017-5-24 12:08
Hi folks, mine is doing something very similar but only every so often. I had actually put it down to the wind being too strong as each time it happened I had gotten the wind velocity warning each time.. Is this the case with any of the times you guys had the issue? I had a complete loss of the live feed a few times to. I'd gone through the setup procedures and everything was fine, took off and got about 10 meters away and then everything went black. I landed it, restarted everything and then it worked fine. Anyone see this? Thanks, Mac

I can't speak for others, but mine's freakouts weren't generally in strong winds... Mine were seemingly random. I was able to reproduce a number of times, in various conditions - some flying high and fast, once while hovering ~20ft off the ground in a fenced in area (no wind). In my troubleshooting, I believe that we ruled out: strong wind, aggressive aircraft maneuvers, sd card, electromagnetic interference, physical interference, and type of device connected to controller. I didn't have live feed going during all times that the freakout occurred, but I don't believe that I ever lost my live stream any of the times that I did have it going when the freakout happened.  

MentalEcho Posted at 2017-5-25 04:31
I can't speak for others, but mine's freakouts weren't generally in strong winds... Mine were seemingly random. I was able to reproduce a number of times, in various conditions - some flying high and fast, once while hovering ~20ft off the ground in a fenced in area (no wind). In my troubleshooting, I believe that we ruled out: strong wind, aggressive aircraft maneuvers, sd card, electromagnetic interference, physical interference, and type of device connected to controller. I didn't have live feed going during all times that the freakout occurred, but I don't believe that I ever lost my live stream any of the times that I did have it going when the freakout happened.

I can rule out wind then..

I'm wondering then is this a hardware or software issue.. I guess it could be both!!

mcquaim Posted at 2017-5-25 09:00
I can rule out wind then..

I'm wondering then is this a hardware or software issue.. I guess it could be both!!

Yeah, just a little background on mine...

After DJI acknowledged that this was an issue requiring repair, it was sent in for service and they replaced the Camera+Gimbal assembly and called it fixed..

Upon getting the 'fixed' Mavic back, the Gimbal Freakout occurred 3 times in my first test flight - so DJI requested that I send it in again, indicating that they'd swap it for a new one this time.  

This was more than a month ago, and I've been going back and forth trying to get them to do what they've said they would do.. Yesterday they delivered me a battered Refurb P3S instead - so now I am jumping through more hoops to get this back to them and to get a new Mavic back to me... While I hope it's not the case, I'm figuring based on my previous experiences that I likely have another month+ in front of me before anything else happens - though they've assured me that this will not be the case (they've said this before, yet here we are, so...)

I've been reached out to by a handful of supervisors who've personally assured me that they will make sure I get a new Mavic and that I'm taken care of... I've heard this multiple times before over the past 2 months, so I'm reluctant to believe it too much until I see it.

Good luck!

I ended up taking mine back to bestbuy and swapping it out for a new Mavic, I went though 2 batteries on it with no issues so far. I hope the new one  doesn't start " freaking out" on me

Eastkoyfly Posted at 2017-5-26 05:35
I ended up taking mine back to bestbuy and swapping it out for a new Mavic, I went though 2 batteries on it with no issues so far. I hope the new one  doesn't start " freaking out" on me

Ughhh.. I kinda hate you, but it's only because I am super jealous that you had so an easy option available to you   Congratulations on being able to avoid the support nightmare!  That's awesome - and I am totally envious. 3+ months after giving them $1400 and all I have are a bunch of emails and messages telling me how sorry they are and how they totes promise to make it right this time... Enjoy!

+1 I'm also have the same issues with my gimbal... The first time it happened i thought the mavic is crashing... I realy hope it's just a software issue, don't want to send my mavic to repair after less than a month of ownership...

Btw. to show the issue - given your device is fast enough - you can use a screen recorder, to capture video even if the Mavic is not recording. DU Recorder (Androi), no affiliation, just tested it) seems to work well.

fans8fbb746d Posted at 2017-5-26 07:39
Btw. to show the issue - given your device is fast enough - you can use a screen recorder, to capture video even if the Mavic is not recording. DU Recorder (Androi), no affiliation, just tested it) seems to work well.

Good suggestion.. I'm leery of screen recorders because of their use in malware, but there are some safe ones out there... nVidia Shield devices also apparently have this functionality baked in...  I use a slightly different method - live steaming.. You can do a private livestream on Facebook or Youtube (only shared with yourself), which will also pick this freakout up.

MentalEcho Posted at 2017-5-26 05:51
Ughhh.. I kinda hate you, but it's only because I am super jealous that you had so an easy option available to you   Congratulations on being able to avoid the support nightmare!  That's awesome - and I am totally envious. 3+ months after giving them $1400 and all I have are a bunch of emails and messages telling me how sorry they are and how they totes promise to make it right this time... Enjoy!

Yeah, I don't blame you! I'm really glad I decided to purchase from bestbuy. I'm gonna give this new one a good workout during my 14day window for returns. If it's good I'll keep it, I really do love this mavic! If I end up with problems, I'll most likely end up trading it in for a P4 Pro. Really sorry about your nightmare. It a shame dji makes it difficult   they really need to rethink the CS department

Can someone confirm that a repair solved the freak out gimbal issue ? I don't want to send my mavic in for repair but in the end it's a software/firmware issue...

afisch Posted at 2017-5-29 05:47
Can someone confirm that a repair solved the freak out gimbal issue ? I don't want to send my mavic in for repair but in the end it's a software/firmware issue...

I've sent mine in for camera/gimbal repair and I can confirm that it did not fix this issue in my case (they replaced my camera/gimbal assembly).  

Additionally, I cannot recommend sending in anything to DJI's repair center unless it's an absolute must - as there's no telling when/if you will get anything back, let alone anything better than what you started out with.  

I began this terrible process more than 2 months ago and I have nothing to show for my troubles today aside from additional grey hairs and more severe acid reflux. As it stands, I'm out $1400, have no Mavic and have nothing but more DJI promises that I will eventually be taken care of - though I have no reason to believe a word they say based on my experiences to date.

Hey guys,
Im havibg the same problem but ive found that it may be due to the sd card being used. Can you please inform me on what SD card you are using. I have seen no issues with the origibal sd card that came with the drone but using the extreme pro sd card 64gb sandisk is when the issue occurs

Kripps Posted at 2017-5-31 02:36
Hey guys,
Im havibg the same problem but ive found that it may be due to the sd card being used. Can you please inform me on what SD card you are using. I have seen no issues with the origibal sd card that came with the drone but using the extreme pro sd card 64gb sandisk is when the issue occurs

While I can't be certain if our problem is identical, I can say that I tried no less than a half of a dozen cards (including the original 16GB card provided with the Mavic Pro) and was able to eventually reproduce the freakout on all of them.

Just a quick update... Still getting hosed by DJI... They seem unwilling to own their issues and actually help customers once they get their money... 3 months and I still have nothing to show for the $1400 that I paid them, aside from grey hair and stomach ulcers...  Here's an updated thread if they don't delete it or ban me (I've been threatened) https://forum.dji.com/thread-98395-1-1.html

I have this problem occasionally (3 times for a month) last time today
Cache from ipad

I had this once on a flight yesterday...
Sunny warm evening... Little to no wind... Was in p mode doing a lighthouse pass... Maybe 50m high and slow. The camera freaked out then said aircraft disconnected... Screen on iPad went black then after a few seconds it reconnected.
After it connected again the gimbal was still going nuts .. not sure if the drone was falling out of the sky as it was panning and spinning everywhere... Could also see the props spinning in frame..
Then after 10 seconds or so it stabilised and was fine. I noted that the video recording had stopped by itself.
The video was recording 4k 30p onto Sandisk extreme 64gb.

Am going to contact heliguy where I purchased it for a checkup..

Krevvy Posted at 2017-7-13 14:57
I had this once on a flight yesterday...
Sunny warm evening... Little to no wind... Was in p mode doing a lighthouse pass... Maybe 50m high and slow. The camera freaked out then said aircraft disconnected... Screen on iPad went black then after a few seconds it reconnected.
After it connected again the gimbal was still going nuts .. not sure if the drone was falling out of the sky as it was panning and spinning everywhere... Could also see the props spinning in frame..

Oh also the only thing different for me last night was  that I had a polar pro nd4 pl vivd filter on for the first time..
You guys having issues are you using nd?

Yikes.  This thread is painful to read.

I also had some erratic camera behavior that seemed to cause the camera to reset (and me to freak out a little.)  I was using an ND filter but not sure if that was the issue.  I know if I don't have the filter properly seated at startup, the camera seems to stick in it's calibration mode.  I'm guessing the added mass, although slight, might have a negative effect on the control system. i.e. if the control system is trying to correct for a center of mass that has shifted slightly from where it's supposed to be, it might hit a portion of firmware that tells it to re-calibrate.

Did you try this whats in the youtube video at this id? (I can't post links in this forum) ...
UrjggPyLyCg

The guy uses DJI assistant to recalibrate his gimbal.

I'm having the same loss-of-video and gimbal-freak-out symptoms.  Started about three weeks ago.  Based on the commonality of the symptom descriptions by so many people I'm guessing it's got to be a software issue, but I see the original poster (great post, MentalEcho) had these symptoms in February.  Yikes.  Anybody seeing or hearing anything new?

Add one more to the list. Happened for the first time yesterday, after 187 flights with no problem. Drone was only 50 yards away with clear line of sight when video loss was reported. When video resumed around 10 - 20 secs later, gimble was freaking. On playback of video recording, video recording seems to stop before any gimble freakout or corrective action by me (I pressed the return to home after the loss of video message). This is interesting from a debug perspective - it may indicate gimble freakout is a symptom rather than cause. It appears that whatever the bug is, it triggers recording to stop immediately.

Same issue for me.  There are tons of forums full of mavic owners describing the same event.  Sent mine in and received a refurbished unit with the same problem.  Lost a month worth of flights and a month worth of equity of my Care refresh plan.  For the issue to be this prolific, i has to be SW/FW related, however DJI is still saying to send them in for service.

This much issues and Bad support, Still they don't care....Sad.

Have same issue here. While recording 4K video stops, camera and gimbal rests and then after 30s or so everything comes back to normal. Quite annoying... Expecting an update to fix it...

Having the same issue. It ruins my experience completely. It happens every 30 sec - 1 min. I had almost half a year of completely problem-free experience with Mavic. And suddenly this issue started to happen randomly. At first it happened 1-2 times during a full-battery flight. Now it happens every minute. It's impossible (and dangerous) to use Mavic now. It started happening at the same time I updated firmware, but now I can see this is not the cause, since the symptoms are 100% the same, but the first mention was so long ago in this post.
What happens with my Mavic at random moment and very often, all at the same time:
1. Video signal lost.
2. Camera stops recording.
3. Gimbal orientation freaks out.
4. Camera focus is lost.
Then back after some time.

Have lots of videos of this issue. Easily reproducible.

Same issue! Any workaround?

Mine MAVIC does randomly the same behavior.
I am not sure, but it first occurs after firmware update to 0700.